Today I want to present videos with two pieces by Salvator Léonardi (or Salvatore Leonardi). According to Philip J. Bone, The Guitar and Mandolin, Schott 1972, Salvatore Leonardi was born at Catania (Sicily). Bone continues:
He was taught the mandolin and guitar by an uncle living in Naples and studied the violin in Naple Conservatoire of Music. Havin won several awards as solo mandolinist in International contests in Florence, Rome and other cities, he toured extensively, became a versatile linguist, and settled for a time as a teacher in Egypt, Malta, then London, and finally at the commencement of the twentieth century made his permanent abode in Rue d’Amsterdam, Paris.
He was a teacher of high repute in the city, and in universal request as an adjudicator at important music concours, ….
He composed several solos for the mandolin of exceptional merit and also superior orchestrations for mandolin band; the principal are: Souvenir de Catane, Souvenir de Naples, Souvenir de Sicile und Angels and Daemons, all published in Paris.
According to Paul Sparks (The Classical Mandolin) Leonardi died in 1938, which means that the copyright for his compositions has expired in 2009.
Marijke und Michiel Wiesenekker have made a video of Souvenir de Sicile for mandolin and guitar:
Salvatore Leonardi “Souvenir di Sicilia”
Mazurka Variata
Marijke (mandolin) & Michiel (guitar) play live in Holland (Bodegraven). A piece by Salvatore Leonardi “Souvenir di Sicilia”
Natalia Alencova played Angeli e Demoni in a concert last year:
Angeli e Demoni, Salvatore Leonardi
Fantasia caratteristica per Mandolino solo
Natalia Alencova, Konzert in Aschersleben 2010
Paul Sparks writes about this piece in his book “The Classical Mandolin”:
“Angeli e demino” is a graphic (though not particularly serious) musical depiction of the battle between good and evil.
Salvator Léonardi has published his Method for Mandolin or Banjolin in 1921 in Paris. You can find a presentation of this method on my homepage, including some interesting notes about playing jazz:
Playlist Salvator Léonardi
I have made the following playlist with the youtube videos with the two pieces by Salvator Léonardi. It includes videos with the Japanese mandolin player Kozo Onishi, with Takashi Tomonari (mandolin) and Miyagawa Hisashi (guitar) from Japan and with Abraham Leibovitz from Israel.
The playlist begins with a video of Souvenir de Sicile played by Yahui Chen and Yunchang Dong on the Chinese mandolin liuquin and guitar:
Additional Information
Homepage Marijke and Michiel Wiesenekker: http://www.wiesenekker.com/
Homepage Natalja Alencova: http://www.mandoline-alencova.eu/
The mandolin method by S. Léonardi is now availableon my musicaneo site: